Scalable Bacterial Cellulose-Based Radiative Cooling Materials with Switchable Transparency for Thermal Management and Enhanced Solar Energy Harvesting.

Radiative cooling materials that can dynamically control solar transmittance and emit thermal radiation into cold outer space are critical for smart thermal management and sustainable energy-efficient buildings. This work reports the judicious design and scalable fabrication of biosynthetic bacterial cellulose (BC)-based radiative cooling (Bio-RC) materials with switchable solar transmittance, which are developed by entangling silica microspheres with continuously secreted cellulose nanofibers during in situ cultivation. Theresulting film shows a high solar reflection (95.3%) that can be facilely switched between an opaque state and a transparent state upon wetting. Interestingly, the Bio-RC film exhibits a high mid-infrared emissivity (93.4%) and an average sub-ambient temperature drop of ≈3.7 °C at noon. When integrating with a commercially available semi-transparent solar cell, the switchable solar transmittance of Bio-RC film enables an enhancement of solar power conversion efficiency (opaque state: 0.92%, transparent state: 0.57%, bare solar cell: 0.33%). As a proof-of-concept illustration, an energy-efficient model house with its roof built with Bio-RC-integrated semi-transparent solar cell is demonstrated. This research can shine new light on the design and emerging applications of advanced radiative cooling materials.

Stimulus-driven liquid metal and liquid crystal network actuators for programmable soft robotics.

Sophisticated soft matter engineering has been endorsed as an emerging paradigm for developing untethered soft robots with built-in electronic functions and biomimetic adaptation capacities. However, the integration of flexible electronic components into soft robotic actuators is challenging due to strain mismatch and material incompatibilities. Herein, we report a general strategy to integrate electrically conductive liquid metals (LMs) and shape-morphing liquid crystal networks (LCNs) towards multifunctional and programmable soft robotics. A unique colloidal LM ink with superior adhesion and photothermal conversion efficiency was judiciously designed and fabricated by ultrasonicating LMs and miniature carboxylated gold nanorods (MiniGNR-COOH) in an aqueous suspension of biological bacterial cellulose. The designed nanocellulose-based colloidal LM ink is used for shape-deformable and electrically conductive LM-LCN soft robots that can be electro- and photo-thermally actuated. As proof-of-concept demonstrations, we present a light-fueled soft oscillator, an inchworm-inspired soft crawler and programmable robotic Shadow Play exhibiting multifunctional controllability. The strategy disclosed here could open up a new technological arena for advanced multifunctional soft materials with potential utility in bioinspired soft machines, integrated soft electronics, human-computer interaction and beyond.